Jamaican reggae singer Chronixx sat down with Rolling Stone earlier this year for The First Time, our video series in which artists look back on milestones in their career and their most formative creative inspirations.

“The first time I wrote a song, I was definitely too young to write, so it was all in my head,” he recalls, smiling at the thought. “That’s how I start making most of my music — in my head, to this day.”

Chronixx also recalls the first time he performed when he was eight years old, the first time he went by the name Chronixx (and where it originated from), the first time he heard himself on the radio, and the first time he heard the rhythm for what would become his signature song, “Smile Jamaica.” He also told the story of his first large crowd performance in Kenya, during a time of political unrest. Chronixx held a concert there as a peace ambassador, and the experience of performing to a crowd of thousands of East Africans who looked like him was an emotional one.

“It really shifted my consciousness as an artist,” he explains. “It helped me to realize what my purpose as an artist is, my priority, how to be in this crowd.”

Chronixx recently shared the single “Dela Move,” and will be releasing his sophomore album, Dela Splash, later this year.